Collecting My Thought on Fade to Silence—Strip It Bare

Germany's Black Forest Games does an excellent job of tensing brows and drenching palms with their survival stalwart Fade to Silence, but the whole affair is dampened by their inefficacy of delivering a worthwhile story. It makes me wonder, if this game were to be stripped bare of its narrative, would it have enough to survive? Because in its nakedness, I certainly think it would have been a much more fulfilling experience.

Ash wakes up in a crypt deep in a corner of a frozen-over riverside town. A dementor knockoff is constantly deriding him, malevolent humanoids have overrun Earth and there is a creaking, moon-like satellite known as the Eclipse that hovers over the town indiscriminately dropping scrap cars to the ground directly beneath. Throughout the journey of uncovering the truth behind how the world has become such a horror fest and how to fix it, Ash must battle not only those crazy humanoid creatures, but also the elements, as both subzero temperatures and constant hunger will eventually do him in if left unchecked. It is this nonstop need to reinforce the survival sandcastle with firewood and venison, all played to a harrowing symphony of blizzard howls and ice sheet cracks, that really makes the game great entertainment. It is fine-tuned to the point that you have sparse opportunity to rest as a player, and when such a moment arrives, you really do cherish it, and you cherish the whole experience of being a player of the game. But then the story kicks in, and all you can do is shake your head.

From the confusing introduction to the juvenile ending, not enough can be said about how badly the ball was dropped here. And that's not the only gripe to be had. The avalanche of bugs can for the most part be laughed off. But for a game that steeply punishes death, it has a habit of getting the player helplessly stuck in untidy nooks in the game's geography or awkward knots in the player's action states. Not fun. Fade to Silence is at the end of the day a worthy entry into the survival genre. But if you are looking for something that provides true satiety, this half-cooked offering is worth a miss.

#WeirdestSound Footsteps on floating stones sound like walking up a metal staircase.

#FavouriteMechanic Blizzards. These brutal phenomena really punctuate the importance of managing what you carry with you and how readily you can access safety at all times. Plus those sound and visual effects really do make you shiver.

#ReminiscentOf Dark Souls/Bloodborne. Campfire checkpoints, a roll-or-parry combat defence, a bootleg Margo's Wet Nurse antagonist with a musical box theme and the whole "you're trapped in a bleak existence" song and dance are all included.

#SMH At the bootleg dementor/Margo's Wet Nurse constantly chirping insulting and annoying stuff in my ear. It felt impotent and silly, in contrast to the inner voices in Hellblade.